Cannabis Culture Awards Now More Important Than Ever

On Thursday 27th November 2014, the Cannabis Culture Awards will be presented; since 2004, the most important distinction awarded to exceptional people or organizations that have made an extraordinary contribution to the world of cannabis and hemp. Winners Howard Marks and Marc and Jodie Emery will receive their award in the Hash, Marijuana & Hemp Museum in Amsterdam.

The presentation of the Cannabis Culture Awards this year falls on the same day as the annual High Times Cannabis Cup. This American event has never encountered so much opposition from the city council; for the first time ever, it proved impossible to organize the exhibition in the capital.

“The problems with the High Times cup demonstrates that the presentation of the Cannabis Culture Awards is now more important than ever,” stated Ben Dronkers, initiator of the awards. “For years, our land was an example for the rest of the world: here, you could see that decriminalisation works infinitely better than the very costly ‘war on drugs’ approach. As more and more countries decriminalise and legalise, we are going the other way.”

This year’s winners have all, in their own way, delivered an enormous contribution to dissemination of the plant and the fight for an end to the senseless ban on cannabis. Since 1994 Marc Emery has been the driving force behind the legalisation movement in Canada. With his company Hemp BC he sold millions of cannabis seeds; with the profits, he financed activism and media such as Cannabis Culture Magazine and Pot TV. Following a lengthy legal battle, he was imprisoned in an American jail for four years, from which he was released in August this year. During his detention his wife Jodie took on his role, in addition to her own, admirably. Years ago, CNN named Marc Emery ‘The Prince of Pot’; his tireless Jodie has more than earned the title of ‘Princess of Pot’.

Howard Marks, alias Mister Nice, was the world’s greatest hash smuggler throughout the seventies and eighties. Marks was no ordinary smuggler; he studied at Oxford, maintained contact with the British Secret Service and limited his activities strictly to cannabis. For years he evaded the police, but eventually the American DEA caught up with him. He spent seven years in one of the most infamous and highly guarded prisons in America. Following his release, he began a new life; Marks wrote the highly successful autobiography Mr Nice, which was translated into multiple languages and made into a film in 2010. He has given hundreds of interviews, lectures and speeches in which he argues eloquently and spiritedly for the legalisation of cannabis.

The presentation of the Cannabis Culture Awards 2014 will be hosted by Michael Schaap, known from Dutch television series ‘De Hokjesman’. There will be entertainment, short films about those being honoured, and interviews with the winners and Ben Dronkers. There will also be various prominent people from the international cannabis scene present, including “The Culture High” executive producer, Todd McCormick, making this a unique chance to meet many famous icons from the culture of cannabis.

I don’t support stuff like this. Its hypocritical. Mark Emery is only different from the cartels in that he is not perceived as violent and spent his profits propagandizing instead of building mansions. No one stopped the guy from using legitimate profits from legitimate businesses to fund his propaganda.

Awards should be given to up and commers for actual legal conduct that promotes actual responsibility and objectivity, not to already wealthy people, serial criminal activists, or ideological back patters.